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My story is I always try to practice safe sex however 3 weeks ago I was having sex with a lady from Zimbabwe (we have a lot of african immigrants in Ireland) I was using a condom during this.I'm 44, Married, white and however my wife has no idea what I'm up to.

However I was finding it hard to cum so I took the condom off and I wanted to come off between her brests however she did not want that and put my penis down to her vagina. I stayed outside her vagina rubbing my penis up and down her pubic hairs however for about the last 60 seconds or less my penis slipped inside her about 1 or 2 inches (not fully) when I came I withdrew and came over the outside of her vagina.

Immeadiately afterwards I cleaned my penis and surrounding areas with an "Savlon" antiseptic wipe, I did,nt clean the eye of my penis as I find these wipes irritate it if you do that.

I suggested to her that we could go for a HIV test, however since then she seems distant, I am reading between the lines here and assuming that she could indded be HIV + considering that Zimbabwe is a country that has HIV rates of 20-25% depending on which report you look at.

I have a few questions on this and thanks in advance for the answers.

1. HIV-2 is possibly the most common strain in Africa, and in a previous article from a guy today having sex with an African sex worker someone said that HIV-2 was more difficult to catch. However how can this be with the amount of AIDS in Africa is so rampant. My question here is do African people have a higher virus content and thus can spread the virus easier i.e Am I at at higher risk having sex with an African than a white european ??

2. What are the chances of me being infected assuming she was HIV + from looking at the internet the odds from vaginal sex female to male vary from 500:1 to 8000:1 ? I'm confused by these conflicting figures.

3. This is a bit of a combination question of 1 and 2. If vaginal transmission odds are at those levels as in 2. how come HIV is so prelevant in Africa, is there some factors coming into play or transmission avenues that has not been seen in Developed counteries.

4. Whats the earliest that I can go for a test considering it may be HIV-2.

Paul, your "advice" was so wrong and off-base that I have taken the unusual step of editing it out. Please do not attempt to give "advice" on this forum again. As Rodney tells you below, if you have questions, start your own thread.

paulc37, please refrain from giving advice, specificily wrong information. If you have a comment or concern please start your own thread and ask your questions there and there only. Please make sure you read the "Welcome" thread and the posting guidelines.

HIV 1, is easier to contact than HIV 2. If you haven't tested together you should always think that they maybe infected. Forget the numbers game we don't deal with except that one my contract it the first time or may slip by and contract it on the hundredth time. You can't go by odds. As for HIV 2, it is the most specific strain in Western Africa. Testing period for a conclusive test is 12/13 weeks.

WRONG. Hiv 2 is not common anywhere except for a very few western African nations. Zimbabwe is no where near this part of the continent. Hiv 1 is the prevalent strain in Zimbabwe (and most of sub-saharan Africa).

The level of risk has nothing to do with race, it has to do with the activity you participate in. Anal intercourse is the riskiest, with vaginal coming in second. There are many different reasons why hiv is so widespread in Africa, none of which have the slightest thing to do with your situation.

Hiv is a fragile, difficult to transmit virus and more so from a woman to a man. Your brief exposure is unlikely to result in infection, but you should test.

The very earliest you should test is six weeks as the vast majority of people who have actually been infected will seroconvert and test positive by six weeks. A negative result at this time is not likely to change, but you do need to confirm at the three month point. Only a test a three months is conclusive.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

HIV-1 is the most common one in Africa. What you might have heard that it is different to the HIV in the Western World. It is. In Europe and America it is Subtype B, in Africa it is A and C. All of them can be detected in HIV tests.

Rich

« Last Edit: December 11, 2006, 09:34:49 AM by HIVworker »

Logged

NB. Any advice about HIV is given in addition to your own medical advice and not intended to replace it. You should never make clinical decisions based on what anyone says on the internet but rather check with your ID doctor first. Discussions from the internet are just that - Discussions. They may give you food for thought, but they should not direct you to do anything but fuel discussion.

Just Wondering have any of you guys heard if a rapid home HIV test made by a duthch company Mirates is reliable.This product is supposed to be for sale in Pharmacies in the Netherlands and is available for sale on the internet.It's not for sale to the US.

I know you guys U.S. side will say it's not FDA approved but would be interested in hearing anyone from a european perspective.I'm assuming that if it's for sale in the Netherlands that is has been approved and possibly tested by some authority either Dutch or EU

Other similar products are available Trinity Biotech Ultragold which is FDA approved made in my country of Ireland yet is not for sale to the public and Abbott labs Determine also not for sale to the public.

As far as I am aware, the Mirates test has a high incidence of false positive results.

Why don't you just go to a clinic? You should be more worried about other, more easily transmitted sexually transmitted infections from this brief, broken condom incident. You can't home test for the other STIs.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Rapid home tests are frowned upon for several reasons. One reason is the person might not preform the test properly. A second reason is that there is no counselor available for a person who tests positive. This could lead to people harming themselves - because it stands to reason that a person who refuses to test at a clinic may be extremely upset at a positive result. If you've got someone who is already freaked out about the whole hiv testing thing and they happen to get a false positive... they would never know that they killed themselves over an inaccurate test result.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I've merged your new thread into your original thread - where you should post all your additional thoughts or questions. It helps us to help you when you keep all your additional thoughts or questions in one thread.

If you need help finding your thread when you come here, click on the "Show own posts" link under your name in the left-hand column of any forum page.

Please also read through the Welcome Thread so you can familiarize yourself with our Forum Posting Guidelines. Thank you for your cooperation.

The short answer is NO, you haven't put yourself at risk for hiv. It's only babies who depend solely on their mother's milk for sustenence who are at risk from drinking breast milk.

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL sexually transmitted infections together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with an STI. Sex without a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through all three condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

ALTHOUGH YOU DO NOT NEED TO TEST OVER BREAST MILK, anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Your immune system is in full working order. That means that your saliva has over a dozen elements in it which very effectively prevent the transmission of viable HIV orally. An infant does not have that protection until about approximately 6 months of age.

You were not at risk for HIV for sucking her nipples including if you swallowed any fluid from them.

That's good about the condom use. As long as you are using a condom everytime the HIV status of the woman you are with becomes irrelevant.